"But why should we leave the house?" she asked.
"Merely as a matter of precaution," answered the captain. "It is possible that the water may reach close up to us, and the ground between this and the ridge is lower, so that we should have a difficulty in crossing it should the house be flooded."
"Here come the drays," cried Rob, who had been looking out for them.
Harry was driving one, Reggy another, and Bendigo a third. Sandy and the men had galloped off to gather in the cattle on the higher ground, and Bendigo and Harry had had a hard matter to put to the horses, which had caused the delay.
"There is no time to be lost now," whispered the captain to his brother.
"We will load the drays as fast as we can. You shall drive your wife and mine, with the young children; the rest of us will follow as soon as we can."
Without a moment"s delay the drays were loaded. Biddy and Betty, as Harry declared, "worked like troopers." The trunks and boxes having been put in, their bedding was placed on the top of them. Still there was all the furniture and various articles which it seemed a pity to leave to the mercy of the flood.
"You go on, father," cried Harry to the captain, "with the girls; Reggy, Hector, and I, with Biddy and the blacks, will soon load up with a few more things and quickly overtake you."
The captain, who was anxious to place the girls in safety, with a portion of their property, trusting to Harry"s discretion, followed his advice.
"Don"t delay," he shouted, pointing to the water, which was already overflowing the kitchen-garden, though it had not yet reached the road they were to cross. Hector was ashamed to ask to go with the captain, though he would infinitely rather have done so. He, indeed, exerted himself far more than he had ever been known to do before.
Biddy and Betty were as active as ever, carrying out all sorts of things, some of which might have been left behind, until Harry and Reggy pointed out what was considered of most value. Already the dray was as full as it could hold. Bendigo shouted out that it was time to be off, and jumped on the seat.
"We go now, we go now!" he cried.
Biddy and Betty clung to the hinder part of the dray, struggling in vain to get in.
"Off with you," exclaimed Harry; "we will follow on foot."
Bendigo cracked his whip, and his horses dashed forward at such a rate that it was a wonder the dray did not immediately capsize. Harry watched it anxiously as it went down a dip from which there was a gentle rise. Already a stream of water was running through the hollow, but it looked a mere rivulet, not half a foot deep, which could be pa.s.sed over with a good spring.
"It is a pity we should not get a few more goods," said Harry; "although I don"t believe the water will reach the house: yet, if it does, everything will be spoiled, if not washed away."
They hurried through the rooms, picking up whatever they thought most valuable. Even Hector was inspired with a desire to save something, especially several articles belonging to himself. Harry had taken a run into the kitchen, where he discovered some dampers, which Biddy in her alarm had forgotten to remove from the ashes.
"It is a pity to lose these," said Harry, clapping them into the pockets of his jacket--good capacious ones, as every bushman"s should be. There was, besides, a pot of yams, by this time completely cooked.
"Here, Reggy, stow some of these away," he cried out. "The chances are that we shall not have too much to eat on the top of the hill there, unless Biddy has been more thoughtful than she appears to have been when she left these. What she could have been about I don"t know!"
So busily were they engaged that they did not hear the increased roar of the waters.
"Come, you fellows, it"s time to be off, I"m sure," cried Hector, who had been feeling very nervous all the time.
"Just half a minute longer," answered Harry; "I must lash these things up."
Hector, however, would not stop, and rushed out of the house. Directly afterwards he came back, looking very pale.
"The water is rushing through the hollow like a mill-sluice!" he exclaimed; "we shall lose our lives if we attempt to cross."
Harry and Reggy followed him out. He spoke too truly. They were cut off from what was now the mainland by a foaming torrent twelve yards or more in width, which was carrying along fruit-trees, rocks, and palings, whirling them round and round so that it would be impossible to swim across or to wade, even should the depth allow of their doing so.
Hector threw down his load and wrung his hands.
"Stay!" cried Harry, "we"ve got a ladder! we may get across by that."
They all three ran back for it, and attempted to throw it across, but the channel was too wide, and it was almost torn from their grasp. It would have been lost had not Harry fastened a rope to the lower round, by which it was hauled in.
"The ladder may be useful for another purpose," observed Harry.
They lifted it up and carried it back to the house. The water was by this time rising even faster than before. The maize field, the yam and potato-ground, the orchard and kitchen-garden, were all flooded.
Palings and hedges were everywhere giving way before the torrent. A rise of another foot would bring it up to the walls of the house. The floor was somewhat higher, so that it would not damage that much should the flood cease to rise when it got thus far. But would it cease? was the question. If it once began to beat against the walls of the house, would they stand? Reggy proposed climbing up to the roof by means of the ladder.
"That would be a place of very doubtful safety," said Harry.
They looked up the stream, now extending a quarter of a mile or more on either side of its original bed. The whole country around them seemed flooded, with the exception of the hill to which the drays had gone.
"I am afraid that it will reach the stock-yard," said Harry, "and it must be close to it already; if so, the cattle will have a poor chance.
See, it has already carried away the hen-house, and there go the poor hens, flying away towards the nearest branches they can reach.
Unfortunately, I cut the wings of a number only the other day because they would stray, and now they will all be lost."
"Oh! what shall we do? What shall we do?" exclaimed Hector.
"We are not going to lose our lives if we can help it," said Harry, who retained his presence of mind.
He was just then watching the piggeries. The torrent struck them, carrying away the palings and letting the inmates loose.
"Foolish beasts!" exclaimed Harry, "instead of swimming towards the sh.o.r.e they are going with their heads down the stream, taking it quite coolly. They might have been on dry ground in five minutes if they had gone in the right direction."
Notwithstanding Harry"s warning, Hector insisted on getting upon the roof.
"The water would surely not rise much above the floor, and as the house had withstood the hurricane it would not be knocked down by the flood,"
he said.
Calling to Reggy to help him, he climbed up and took his seat on the ridge.
"Come up! come up!" he shouted to Harry and Reggy; "you will be safe enough here."
"You had better come down and get up that tree," answered Harry, pointing to one which stood on ground of the same level as the house, and but a short distance from it.
Besides its trunk there were the numerous pendants, which had struck down and taken root, so that it was more likely to resist the torrent than any other of the trees near.
Hector, however, was obstinate. He was confident that he was safe, at all events for the present, and thought he should remain so.
"I should grow giddy if I were to climb up into such a tree as that," he answered; "Reggy, you may go if you like, but I"ll stay here."
Harry, who carried the ladder, placed it against the tree, which reached sufficiently high to enable them to get hold of one of the lower branches, by which they could hoist themselves higher. Harry, however, had no intention of going up until it became absolutely necessary.
Still the water rose. It was now sweeping over the ground on which they stood. Reggy, again entreating Hector to come, rushed up to the tree and mounted the ladder. Just then the captain and Mr Berrington appeared in the distance. The roar of the waters prevented their voices being heard. Their alarm at seeing their boys placed in so perilous a position was, of course, very great. Harry saw them making signs and pointing to the tree.
"They want you to do as I advise," shouted Harry. "Come down! come down!"
Hector felt the house shake, as a surge beat against it larger than any of its predecessors. He lost confidence in the safety of his position.
"Slip off the roof by the verandah," shouted Harry.